Bringing the world to the farm.(Enterprise NOW!)

Western Grain Trade Limited has come a long way since the inception of this family business 20 years ago.

The business began when David and Vicki Dutton branched out from their 5,000-acre family farm near North Battleford into seed cleaning in 1989, and then expanded into the world trade of specialty crops, primarily pulses.

David and son George operate the farm and oversee construction of plant-expansion. Vicki and daughters Heidi and Lara look after sales and operations. Between its plants in North Battleford and offices in Saskatoon, the firm employs 20 people.

The company trades peas, lentils, chick peas, canary seed, flaxseed and mustard seed. Pulses, mainly lentils, make up the bulk of sales volume, says Heidi. The company also deals in popcorn and other specialty crops overseas.

The processing operation is what's known as a "soft handle" facility. Unlike conventional elevators, Western Grain's roots in specialty seed growing led to a focus on minimizing damage caused by mechanical handling. The same gentle handling that assures germination of seed crops also produces exceptional value in food products.

What makes Western Grain stand apart, however, is the way the company treats its customers, whether those customers are domestic farmers or foreign buyers. The business goes to great lengths to find just the right variety and quality of crop for each customer, says Heidi.

"There's a lot more selection process that we allow the customers to go through," she says. "That helps create product consistency. That's one of the things that makes us different from what else is being offered out there."

"At the end of the day, it really comes down to starting with a good, solid farmer--one who does a good job and cares about the product."

In April, Western Grain joined Saskatchewan Trade and Export Partnership (STEP) in its trade mission to the Middle East. The company attended the Confederation Internationale du Commerce et des Industries des Legumes Secs/International Pulse Trade and Industry Conference (CICILS) in Turkey, the world's premier international pulse industry convention.

Underscoring Saskatchewan's prominence as the global leader in pulse production, Heidi delivered Canada's address to delegates at the conference.

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By establishing contacts for industry, STEP opens a lot of doors, says Lara.

"As a company selling all over the world, you don't have the resources to be in every market, every year, shaking hands with all the people that you need to," she says. "That's the leg work that STEP does for us. Every time you participate in a mission with them, you get to leverage some of their contacts and some of the people they meet with."

"A lot of countries arc envious of the systems we have set up, through the varietal distribution program, through Saskatchewan pulse growers, through STEP," Heidi continues. "These are phenomenal resources to helping build industries, to create success within those industries."

"One of the things I appreciate as a Canadian is just really how valuable we are to the world and how much food we provide the world," says Vicki. "One of the things the specialty crop sector has done is we've brought the world to the farm. We are the grassroots and we have transcended from the grower to the exporter and we bring it down to the kitchen table.

"We are a global supplier of pulse crops. It makes you wonder what they ate when we weren't here, because we supply so much."

Canada is the world's leading pulse exporter, and Saskatchewan is the undisputed leader in Canadian pulse exports. Saskatchewan produces 99 per cent of Canada's lentils and chickpeas, and over three quarters of its pea crop. The export value of Canadian pulses in 2008 was approximately $1.9 billion, with Saskatchewan accounting for $1.6 billion of this figure.

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